The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Imphal Sub-Zonal Office, has provisionally attached two immovable properties—comprising residential land and a built-up residential house—valued at approximately ₹1.99 crore and located in the Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts of Manipur. This action has been taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in a case involving Seikholen Kipgen, the then Inspector of Customs and Central Excise, and others, regarding the possession of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Imphal Sub-Zonal Office has provisionally attached two immovable properties, consisting of house land and residential building constructed thereon, situated in Kangpokpi district and Imphal East district of Manipur, totalling approximately Rs 1.99 crore, under the provisions of Section 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the case of Seikhollen Kipgen, then Inspector of Customs and Central Excise, and others.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), Imphal, under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Seikhollen Kipgen. The FIR alleges that Seikhollen Kipgen possesses assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The CBI, ACB, Imphal also filed a charge sheet on December 22, 2022, before the competent Special Court in connection with the scheduled offense.
The ED investigation revealed a substantial increase in the assets of Seikhollen Kipgen and his family members during the investigation period from 01.01.2015 to 03.12.2021, and these assets were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income, amounting to approximately ₹1.99 crore. It also emerged that Seikhollen Kipgen had kept unaccounted money earned through illegal sources with his father-in-law for safekeeping, who then deposited the money in his bank account and subsequently transferred it to Seikhollen Kipgen, his wife, or third parties, or made direct payments to vendors at their direction. The funds, thus laundered through various channels, were used to purchase land in his wife’s name and construct a residential building on the land. This was presented as a gift from his father-in-law, representing it as untainted money. Prima facie, his father-in-law was merely a conduit and had no independent financial capacity to make such a gift.
The ED investigation further revealed that the illegal unaccounted money, which was part of the proceeds of crime, was used to acquire and/or construct immovable properties, one of which is in the name of Seikholen Kipgen and the other in the name of his wife, Mrs. Vahaneythem Lucy Kipgen. Accordingly, the said properties have been provisionally attached under the PMLA, 2002, as properties representing the value of proceeds of crime.
Further investigation is ongoing.
